Burning the 9 PM Oil

[pshaw_raven]

I'm normally in bed reading by now but I'm up waiting for Fox. He had to go out and work on something with the internet - not sure what went wrong, but he took his laptop, and bunch of other equipment and his "wifi on a stick." I said I'd wait up for him so here I am. Our net here was up and down for a while but that part seems pretty stable now.

Camp Blanding is still shelling us. Not as badly as at some points during the day, but they're still at it. They let loose some kind of barrage earlier that knocked stuff off the walls and terrified the cats. But it's a small price to pay for their buffer area. Keeping the development out here to a minimum is what keeps the quality of life high - in my opinion. I have known some people who moved out here and then left within a year because they hated being so far from "civilization." Anyway, they haven't shelled overnight in a long time, but I do hope they quit when it gets full dark.

I usually get up early but I have to be up earlier than normal for an 8:30 doctor appointment in Orange Park. I did say I preferred a morning time slot, LOL. I have errands and things to do but I just don't much like going out any more. I'd rather not be around people. I think I've gone into full Hermit Mode - people in Monk Mode got nothin'.

With the face coming up in September I've started thinking about how I can boost my chances of PRing. The high-fat diet is helping to take care of one of my major problems, which was needing frequent walk breaks. Not that there's any shame in needing to walk, but even at a slower pace, eliminating walk breaks has slashed my overall times. My other issues were going to be related to running on the treadmill all summer and I thought of a way to get around those.

Run outside.

Yeah, it's summer in Florida. It's hot and muggy outside. It sucks. But it takes 10 to 14 days to acclimate to heat. So that's one problem down. Another was that I don't have a good sense of what my pace really is on a treadmill. 11:30 outside feels like a fun, easy jog, while 11:30 on the treadmill feels like I'm dying. I need to be able to realistically gauge my pace and learn how to adjust, and I simply can't seem to do that indoors. Of course, the 'mill is still there for me on stormy, flooded-out, or otherwise impossible to run outside days. Tomorrow, for example, it will be way too hot when I get home. I'm aiming to get out and have my runs finished by eight or nine in the morning, and I certainly don't want to be out there at noon.

I've also found an interesting keto-friendly energy bar that may fulfill my fueling needs - which are going to be minimal on a half marathon, but it'll be nice to have something to snack on around mile 10 when I know I'm going to start dragging. They sell Keto Bricks in 1000 calorie bars, but you can melt them down and make smaller bites, which is what I mean to do. Pop the smaller ones in the deep freeze overnight and they should be okay in my belt pack. We'll see. The chocolate peanut butter cup bar I bought actually tastes like cacao butter - surprise, it's made with cacao butter but it's good to taste it. I've been trying to make a more stable "fat bomb" snack for a while now, and everything I make tastes really good, but is sloppy and not stable at room temps. At 1k calories each they're more than I need for normal runs, but would be ideal for stuff I hope to do in the future when we start having ultras again.

Hey, it's been quiet for about ten minutes. I wonder if Camp Blanding put their toys away for the night! XD

Comments

[cdayzee]

Ah, reading in bed before calling it a night, how I miss thee :P

Must be the season for [military] training...

How far away from 'civilization' do y'all live? I'm sure you've mentioned it before; sorry for asking again. My years of info retention are gone lol.

Threat of heatstroke during my usual walks has become a thing for me again as it's usually 'too hot' by mid-morning. I've been persevering though. I half want to get myself an elliptical machine but I've had one before & I didn't feel challenged enough with it. I've also had a treadmill & I didn't like it either. Evidently, I'm difficult to please lol. I wish I had a decent place to ride my bike. I think I'd enjoy that a lot.

[pshaw_raven]

I don't feel like I have a good scale for how rural we are, LOL. The road is sand, and the county refuses to maintain it. Our property borders a state forest on one side. And at night you can see the stars pretty well. Not like the spectacular Milky Way images you see people capturing out in the big national parks, but we don't worry much about light pollution. A lot of this is specifically due to Camp Blanding. There's a buffer zone around the training area where they want no buildings taller than a certain height, no streetlights of certain kinds (some people have private ones they've put up, but those are like lights you could buy at Home Depot, not the kind the DOT would put up) and there may even still be a restriction on new building. We were able to put in a garage, but for years there hasn't been a new house built out here. They want to keep things dark for night maneuvers, is one explanation I've heard.

In terms of driving, we'd need to drive about half an hour in any direction to get basic groceries. Only twenty minutes if you consider gas station food "groceries."

I once went to a gym that had this elliptical with a "hill climbing" function. The angle and resistance would change, and it could get really intense if you wanted it. They only had the one, the others were more standard machines that didn't have programs like that. We tried ordering an elliptical but the way it wound up being designed, our feet were actually further apart than they would be if we were walking normally, and it put a strain on the joints - very awkward.

[cdayzee]

It sounds as if you're quite remote :) I can understand why most people don't last too long there.

I like those ellipticals that have the automated programs! The machine I had was just one of those manual ones. I could manually increase the incline. I do agree that some make your stance too unnatural. They're also a tad pricey lol.